Thread: Straight Razors Dull Despite Little Use

Originally Posted by rickytimothy

Crud, I forgot the WOO. It wouldn't surprise me if bad stropping isn't helping, every single time I strop a razor there is a point where my senses tell me "I think I just destroyed the edge woops" but I'm never sure. I try not to strop with significant pressure and always roll over on the spine.

Or maybe you didn't stop on one knee "Don't forget it!"

Time to bring it around town.



Too many SpongeBob references? Okay, I'm done now.

Seriously though, there's a lot to work out but stropping is probably the first maintenance skill you need. I'm still looking for that video.

When it comes to setting a bevel, close observation with magnification is a must.

Setting a proper bevel on a razor in bad condition can take up to an hour or more, depending on the grind and damage needed removed. Trust me, I've honed some old wedges that took a couple days of sessions, to finally come together. Razor steel is extremely hard, and doesn't abraid very easily.

Learning to listen and feel what the stone and steel are telling you, takes years of experience. I've been putting steel n stone together since I was a child, so its easy for me understand what its saying.

And yes, very few can hone knives and razors. Typically their good at one and not the other, but their are those of us that hone all types of edged tools. A very far and between, person. Good luck with your knife guy.

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May I suggest that you first send off one of the razors to Paul for rehoning. That way you have a standard to compare the results of your efforts.

With new guys, I always suggest starting with the least aggressive method of honing first.
Start with the linen and then strop on leather. Then test shave.
Work your way down the grit ladder. As an example in your case the next lowest step would be the abrasive pasted strop that Paul is sending you followed by the linen strop and then the leather strop, then test shave.
If that fails then go down to the 8K stone and back up the grit ladder to the abrasive pasted strop, then the linen, followed by the plain leather strop, then test shave.
The next lowest is the 4k. For years my tools were the Norton 4/8 and I managed to obtain a very good edge on my razors.
I even created new bevels on razors with the 4K. It is a slow process but can be done.
.
BTW, do not try a hair-cutting test off of the 1K or 4K, you are wasting your time.
I stay on the 8K until I can pass the HHT with the 8K. The limit with that is assuming your hair has some "body". If your hair is limp then the HHT is not for you.

Just my 2¢

Going to have to suggest putting magic marker on your bevel and doing a few strokes to see what exactly is happening and why you are not geting to the edge. Use your bevel setter and just a few strokes.
Post picture of that if you are not sure what is happening.

This is not what I was looking for. I watched another stropping video but I can't find it. Maybe someone else
will chime in with it/one. Meanwhile this is a link to the library section on stropping.

https://shavelibrary.com/w/Razor_stropping

Originally Posted by stoneandstrop

Going to have to suggest putting magic marker on your bevel and doing a few strokes to see what exactly is happening and why you are not geting to the edge.
Post picture of that if you are not sure what is happening.

I don't know why I didn't say that.

Originally Posted by PaulFLUS

This is not what I was looking for. I watched another stropping video but I can't find it. Maybe someone else
will chime in with it/one. Meanwhile this is a link to the library section on stropping.

https://shavelibrary.com/w/Razor_stropping

Those videos by AFDavis are gold.

Here's food for thought. A few years ago I split my ring finger on my right hand in half...yep, right in half. It was a really ugly thing. Anyway, now I can't bend the last joint plus from being in a cast for so long my pinky and middle finger are stiff also. Since then my stropping has improved, not that it was bad before but now it is better because I am forced to hold the razor between just my thumb and forefinger and hold the rest of my hand loosely around it.

Originally Posted by stoneandstrop

Going to have to suggest putting magic marker on your bevel and doing a few strokes to see what exactly is happening and why you are not geting to the edge. Use your bevel setter and just a few strokes.
Post picture of that if you are not sure what is happening.

Sure thing. I was taught to do this but forgot about it.

Originally Posted by randydance062449

..
..
May I suggest that you first send off one of the razors to Paul for rehoning. That way you have a standard to compare the results of your efforts.

With new guys, I always suggest starting with the least aggressive method of honing first.
Start with the linen and then strop on leather. Then test shave.
Work your way down the grit ladder. As an example in your case the next lowest step would be the abrasive pasted strop that Paul is sending you followed by the linen strop and then the leather strop, then test shave.
If that fails then go down to the 8K stone and back up the grit ladder to the abrasive pasted strop, then the linen, followed by the plain leather strop, then test shave.
The next lowest is the 4k. For years my tools were the Norton 4/8 and I managed to obtain a very good edge on my razors.
I even created new bevels on razors with the 4K. It is a slow process but can be done.
.
BTW, do not try a hair-cutting test off of the 1K or 4K, you are wasting your time.
I stay on the 8K until I can pass the HHT with the 8K. The limit with that is assuming your hair has some "body". If your hair is limp then the HHT is not for you.

Just my 2¢

Interesting points, my hair is definitely not thick by any means, even after a week of no shampoo, but when I was doing this I had shampooed recently, so maybe I should just completely abandon that method of testing. Would method would be best for a beginner in that case? I know some pros can just lightly touch the pad of their thumb with the edge of the razor and tell, but my senses are not yet refined enough to be able to get much out of that.

Originally Posted by outback

When it comes to setting a bevel, close observation with magnification is a must.

Setting a proper bevel on a razor in bad condition can take up to an hour or more, depending on the grind and damage needed removed. Trust me, I've honed some old wedges that took a couple days of sessions, to finally come together. Razor steel is extremely hard, and doesn't abraid very easily.

Learning to listen and feel what the stone and steel are telling you, takes years of experience. I've been putting steel n stone together since I was a child, so its easy for me understand what its saying.

And yes, very few can hone knives and razors. Typically their good at one and not the other, but their are those of us that hone all types of edged tools. A very far and between, person. Good luck with your knife guy.

Well if he can't I'm pretty much screwed anyway. There's two people I've found in my city, one who is old and did it on a polishing wheel, seemed to have basically no idea what he was doing, and this guy who makes knives from scratch but also has an interest in sharpening razors. Then there's my metallurgy PHD boss who is an expert on all things microscopic metal, but doesn't sharpen anything.

I'll try to find a good reliable method for looking at the blade. I bought a jeweler's loupe a while back with 30X magnification, but it doesn't have a built in light. I also have a DinoLite Microscope with a built in light, but it's camera only, you can't look through it manually, then I have a stereo microscope that only goes up to 20x or so, and a purpose built metallurgy microscope that goes up to 1000x.

Originally Posted by rickytimothy

I'll try to find a good reliable method for looking at the blade. I bought a jeweler's loupe a while back with 30X magnification, but it doesn't have a built in light. I also have a DinoLite Microscope with a built in light, but it's camera only, you can't look through it manually, then I have a stereo microscope that only goes up to 20x or so, and a purpose built metallurgy microscope that goes up to 1000x.

20x is more than enough as a honing aid. I used 8x or 10x for years. No built in light just sunlight. I didn't hone much at night